The End of Oak Street
The End of Oak Street does not feel like it was written and directed by David Robert Mitchell.
While a dinosaur movie is certainly possible from the genre-hopping creator of Under the Silver Lake and It Follows, this tale of the Platt family attempting to survive a time warp that brings prehistoric predators into their 1982 suburban Michigan neighborhood largely lacks the creativity, wit, and sense of purpose that have anchored his previous features.
Though Mitchell indeed wrote the script, it has all the signs of a J.J. Abrams project and the Lost co-creator indeed serves as one of the film’s producers. A broad Spielberg homage with few of the qualities that make his films tick, The End of Oak Street is also missing a distinct directorial style, suggesting it could have been made by anyone — and yet it’s never boring.
How much of that sustained interest stems from intentionality is up for debate. Crafting a confusing, inconsistent tone, Mitchell can’t seem to decide if he’s making a drama about the dying marriage of Platt patriarchs Denise (the suddenly ubiquitous Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) or a fun dinosaur flick.
The seemingly disparate stories initially work in tandem and it seems like the Platts will iron out their issues while surviving this alien situation with their kids Audrey (Maisy Stella, My Old Ass) and Brian (Christian Convery, The Monkey). However, with the new scaly (and, in a pleasant, historically accurate twist, feathery) guests closing in and staying alive taking precedence, Mitchell understandably doesn’t build in much time for marital check-ins, turning the film’s second half into a watered-down version of Jurassic Park.
As Brian makes a forehead-slapping decision to look for his missing dog, Starbuck, Audrey looks for her brother, and their parents try to find their kids, The End of Oak Street loses its way and works in some truly baffling choices. (Would a neighborhood bully truly hold a grudge during the apocalypse?) But it’s during this stretch that Mitchell embraces the film’s silly side, resulting in creature feature shenanigans, librarian heroics (now that’s public service!), and slapstick that would elicit some amusing commentary from the MST3K team.
Again, whether the writer/director wants those kind of reactions remains murky, and a clumsy ending doesn’t shed much light on the matter. All that’s clear is that Mitchell would be wise to return to more personal, idiosyncratic work.
Grade: B-minus. Rated PG-13. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: Warner Bros.)
